Appalachian Trail: Rock Gap to Wayah Bald

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Day Nine, 14 miles

I’m cozy in my lair as the moon creates more twiggy shadows on my ever-increasingly damp tent.

That’s when the coyotes begin yodeling.

At least it’s not bears climbing the tree a stone’s throw from my tent. This is where someone who thinks hoisting a food bag as high as possible yet still next to the trunk will somehow keep these wily and hungry creatures from just reaching out a paw and cracking open that full calorie piñata.

Nope, the bears didn’t come this time.

I get it. I’m a bear canister snob. But really it’s so convenient to close ‘er up and set ‘er down, then do the opposite in the morning instead of fussing with finding the perfect limb and heaving a rock over it, hoisting a bag up then praying.

Way easier.

I’m off as the sun turns everything amber and it’s up on balcony walks to a ridge, working right away.

I love early morning and think about something I read recently that described the most favored landscapes. One is a trail heading into the distance, then taking a corner.

It must be because of the beckoning invitation to see what’s around that corner, our eyes drawn to action and possibility.

All morning is like that, up and down then over a ridge, the trail leading me to views, flowers, a state of bliss. Yoshi and Phil both spoke yesterday of the miracle of the large painted rectangle – the ‘white blaze’ – that leads all the way from Georgia to Maine without interruption.

No wonder people like to ‘thru’ hike, each bend a new surprise awaits. For me, it’s still easy without rock climbs or tallus, just float on.

I meet the road where most hikers head for a resupply and break in Franklin, then it’s up steeply to Siler Bald, where I walk in full sun on a cleared area nearly straight up to a 360-degree view.

A guy with his dog has carried a chair up and is waiting for me to arrive to take my picture. It’s lovely, but baking hot, so I head down a bit to a sweet camp spot and dry my tent and sleeping quilt.

The plan was to meet my Aunt Janet at the next road less than two miles away. But Sailor arrives and puts an idea in my head. He points across the gap to a spot on the next mountain. That’s where he’s getting picked up.

Ever since hiking in New Zealand I’ve learned it’s a good idea to keep moving when you feel good and the weather’s clear. You never know if tomorrow will turn out rainy or you’re in a bad mood.

So I message Aunt Janet to suggest being picked up at that spot. With a zipline or a hang glider, I’d be there in minutes, but as a mere human, I have to lose 1,000+ feet and gain them all back with my two legs.

I move quickly down concerned I haven’t seen Yoshi all day. It’s possible he missed the spur for the bald, and I’m right finding him sitting at the road.

He too is eager to keep moving the four miles straight up. But I think I passed right by our last water racing down to find him.

For a short way, the trail parallels a road and a couple drives up just as I begin to wonder if this is a good idea to walk four miles uphill without water.

Of course they offer water and of course two diet A&W Root-beers. They’re healthy!

We are so grateful to lovely Nick and Deb for saving our butts though Yoshi later says the sugar might’ve been more helpful.

It’s steady through trees and mostly shaded and we power up. At a campsite there is a small stream, but we’re near the first high point, so I find a log and drink the gifted water.

As I rest I realize the leaves at my feet that look like parsley are Dutchman’s Breeches. The delicate white flowers with pink tips resemble wide pants hanging on the line. They’re in the bleeding heart family and nearby are a varietal that look like water balloons.

We carry on through an entire mountainside of woodland flowers, delicate ephemerals in yellow, pink, cream, mauve. Then one last uphill to Wayah Bald.

What a spectacular site it is! In the 1800s, hundreds of young people camped here to escape the summer heat, carefully separated by hired chaperones. Later, the CCC built an elaborate stone fire lookout tower, which I climb for a better view.

Sailor arrives soon after and then Aunt Janet and two of her grandkids, Wyatt and Grayson who pepper us with questions all the way back down the mountain straight into a zero.